Martin Odum is a legend used by Alexei Volkov an FBI agent. Odum is a specialist who can transform himself into anyone he needs to be. His alternate identities, called “legends,” are so complex and thoroughly established that they almost take on lives of their own. He has a wife named Sonya Odum, but he also has a history with his coworker, Crystal Maguire.
He is played by Sean Bean.
Biography[]
Birth and Early Life[]
Born in Rhzev, Russia on April 18, 1963, he was recruited to the KGB at a young age by a double KGB agent inside MI6 named Hugh Sedley. For the rest of his childhood, he attended the Sedley School in England. Having left the Sedley School, Alexei posed as Alex Reed during college. He eventually had a girlfriend until her death, when he left college and joined MI6.
"Dmitri Petrovich"[]
Stationed mostly in Prague, Czech Republic and other European countries around 2003, Volkov used the legend "Dmitri Petrovich", a Russian gangster. During the operation, he infiltrated the Zakayev family and gained friendship with Doku Zakayev and his brother. However, he eventually started dating Illyana Zakayev, the wife of the abusive Doku, who wanted "Petrovich" to help her and her daughter, Katya, disappear. One night, Doku and Illyana got into a fight in which Illyana shot Doku. "Petrovich" later staged Doku's death to make it look like a professional hit. Some time later, his MI6 superior Terrence Graves, who was also a double agent for the KGB, later gave Petrovich a new mission; to go to Iraq and infiltrate an American military company called Verax under the legend "John Cameron". After having received orders from MI6, Petrovich ended his relationship with Illyana, abandoning her and her daughter, Katya.
Operation Raining Fire[]
In February of 2004, "Cameron" worked undercover for Verax during the Iraq War. However, Verax later hijacked a truck that contained billions of U.S. dollars. Having discovered that American money was being sent to pay Saddam Hussein, Jason Shaw, the CEO of Verax and Cameron's former superior during the Iraq War, later killed innocent American soldiers who delivered the money to Iraq and Verax stole the money. Bothered by this, "Cameron" was eventually caught taking photos of the stolen money. As a response, Verax interrogators beat the truth out of him until he revealed that he was working for MI6. Shortly later, "Cameron" was imprisoned by a Verax soldier but was suddenly rescued by Dennis Evans, a former Verax operative who served during the Iraq War. Meanwhile, Verax soldiers gained possession of Saddam's WMD and other weapons. Knowing that Verax would use the weapons for massive destruction, "Cameron" called other American troops in Iraq and ordered an air strike on Verax's base. However, he was shot in the shoulder by Shaw and was almost executed until the air strike forced "Cameron" down the hill. The incident, which killed numerous Verax operatives, later became known as Operation Raining Fire.
Saved by Sonya Odum[]
After the war ended, "Cameron" was immediately hospitalized at a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, suffering from a gunshot wound and extreme memory loss. Sonya Odum, Cameron's wife and a former CIA agent who was stationed in Germany, was ordered by Nelson Gates, her partner, to extract "Cameron" out of the country. At the hospital, Sonya later killed a hitman who was presumably sent by Verax to take out "Cameron". Moving him out of the hospital, she later told him that she was his wife.
Odum's Car Accident[]
To ensure that "Cameron" would never remember any details about his past life, Sonya and Nelson lead "Cameron" to believe that he was in a car accident around February of 2004 instead of being in Iraq. Ever since the Iraq War, "Cameron" had recurring nightmares about his car accident and his experiences in Iraq.
"Martin Odum"[]
After resettling in the United States, Volkov later joined the FBI and used the legend "Martin Odum" for the next 10 years of his life. In addition, he also married Sonya and the couple had a son named Aiden Odum. Working for the FBI, Martin became a covert operative for the Division of Covert Operations (DCO).
"Lincoln Dittman"[]
Taking orders from Nelson Gates, his FBI superior, Martin infiltrated a domestic terrorist group called the Citizens Army of Virginia under the name Lincoln Dittman. After meeting its leader, the Founding Father, he lured the head and other members of the terrorist group to a warehouse. There, a gunfight begin and the FBI later incarcerated the Founding Father.
Confronted by Robert McCombs[]
The day before the Founding Father was arrested, Martin immediately attacked and fought a mysterious man named Robert McCombs who was following him to the subway. Telling Odum that his name was a legend, McCombs warned Odum not to trust anyone. That night, Martin confided in Bobby, a technical expert, who agreed to help identify McCombs. However, Bobby was later strangled to death by an unknown Verax associate. After closing a case, Martin returned to Bobby's apartment only to discover that he had been murdered. Having left Bobby's place, Odum later called McCombs and the two decided to meet at a subway station. Before McCombs could reveal any information regarding Odum's true identity, a mysterious woman stabbed and killed McCombs. As Martin found the dying man, McCombs gave him a book, stating that the answers are transcribed in the book. Martin then left the scene as witnesses called 911.
"Dante Aurabach"[]
Martin was later sent to infiltrate a group of gangsters led by a Russian arms dealer named The Colonel, whose name was revealed to be Yuri. As part of the operation, he uses the legend "Dante Aurebach", an infamous arms dealer. During the mission, Martin slept with Yuri's adoptive daughter, Ana Paulanos, who mentioned that her parents were both killed in Chechnya. However, Crystal McGuire, Martin's FBI associate, discovers that Yuri killed her mother moments moments before Ana was orphanaged. After luring Yuri to a bank, Martin attempted to kill him until Ana showed up and drew a gun on Martin. Convincing Ana that Yuri murdered her mother, "Aurebach" also pointed a gun at Ana. Having learned the truth from her father, Ana shot and killed the Colonel and attempted to shoot Martin until Crystal intervened.
Searching for Answers[]
Martin, who awoke from another nightmare, referred to the book that McCombs gave to him. Martin later had Maggie Harris, his co-worker and another FBI technician, trace a group of numbers that McCombs had written. Meeting at a Thai restaurant with Maggie, she revealed that the set of numbers were a cell phone number belonging to a man named Dennis Evans. Having obtained the information he needed, Martin tracked down and confronted Evans, asking him about McCombs. A paranoid Evans suddenly attacked Odum and told him that that "Martin Odum" is not his real name. After being invited into his house, Martin gives Odum a picture of veterans, including him, Evans, and McCombs. Martin later reveals to Evans that McCombs is dead and before planning to disappear, Evans gives Odum the name of another fatality from the Iraq War, Kyle Dobson. Moments after Martin left the place, Evans was murdered in his own home presumably by a Verax associate. Martin later met Maggie, who found out that Dobson was residing in Houston, Texas. After having Maggie construct the legend of a cowboy named "Len Barlow", he traveled to Houston
Kidnapping Kyle Dobson[]
At a bar in Houston, Martin's friend introduced him to Dobson's girlfriend, Tara. After attacking her bodyguards, he drove Tara to Dobson's current location. At the car repair shop, Kyle suddenly recognized "Barlow" and a gunfight erupted in which "Barlow" killing all of Dobson's henchmen. Because Dobson was shot during the gunfight, he was immediately taken to a hospital. While watching the surgery, a receptionist gave him a cup of coffee to cheer him up. As he was drinking the coffee, he called Gates and theorized that he was in Iraq around February of 2004 instead of being in a car accident. He later passed out and as he awoke, he noticed that Dobson had been transported. As he searched for Dobson, he confronted the receptionist and suddenly realized that she drugged the coffee. While he tried to locate Dobson, he later attacked a few Verax operatives disguised as doctors and government agents. Having located Dobson, he stole a car and drove away in a car with Dobson.
While driving, Dobson finally revealed that he worked for Verax and that Martin was indeed in Iraq. Because the car stopped operating, the two hid inside an abandoned house. Hours later, the two were ambushed by Verax assassins. Having killed all of the operatives, Martin sent his location to Crystal and Rice. As the FBI scrubbed the house, Dobson was immediately shot by an unknown sniper.
Assassination of Prince Abboud[]
Back at DCO headquarters, Martin was briefed by senators, lawyers, and other government agents about his excursion in Houston. He begins elaborates on Dobson, and the Verax division in Houston. He believed that Verax was also selling illegal weapons (such as a missile that was seen at the car repair shop). After the event ended, Odum, McGuire, Harris, Rice, and Gates were briefed by the AG's office about Prince Abboud's visit from Saudi Arabia. Apparently, Aaron Rawley, an analyst for the state department, leaked files pertaining to the Prince's visit. As CIA intel indicated that the Prince was under the threat of assassination, the DCO started surveying Rawley. Rice and Odum later figured out that Rawley passed this information to Hani Jabril, a Saudi Arabian womens' rights activist. During the operation, Martin uses the legend "Sebastian Egan", a drunk author. While searching Jabril's apartment, Rice retrieves an encrypted hard drive while Martin confronts a Saudi individual who was taking photos of Jabril's apartment and later takes him into custody. Ahmed Hassan, the man at Jabril's apartment, was later freed by the FBI due to having diplomatic immunity.
That night, Egan and Rice, posing as a photographer/Egan's associate, attended a meeting with Jabril and the two met the woman who revealed that she was organizing a protest out of the Arcadia headquarters, where the Prince is meeting with the CEO, Mr. Porter to sign an oil contract. That next day, Martin and Rice are seen outside of the Arcadia building where the protest begins. As the Prince and his bodyguards leave the palace, Hani and the other protestors seize the opportunity to confront Abboud. Abboud, who presumably promised Jabril to change the way Saudi Arabia treats its women, later threatened to kill Jabril until Rice and Egan intervened. While the two forced the Prince into the car, a drone blew up the Prince's car, killing him and all his bodyguards. Moments later, Jabril was taken into custody for the crime.
Exposing the Conspirators Behind the Assassination[]
A few hours after the assassination occurred, Rice and Odum snuck into Rawley's apartment only to find him dead in his closet. Examining Rawley's dead body, Rice spotted an injection mark and assumed that his death was staged. After the two returned to the DCO building, Rice, Odum, McGuire, Maggie, and Gates were informed by Deputy Director Spiller and a Federal District Attorney that DCO had been forced to give away all information linking Rawley to the assassination. Not willing to let Jabril be exonerated for the crime, Martin, posing as "Sebastian Egan", met Julian Drake and Faris Nader, two journalists with daily news. He began elaborating on the perpetrators behind the assassination. He theorized that Prince Fayeen, the cousin of Prince Abboud, conspired with Arcadia to assassinate his cousin to become the official ruler of Saudi Arabia in exchange for an oil contract. Egan also guessed that Aaron Rawley, with the help of Prince Fayeen and Arcadia, set up Hani Jabril for the assassination as she would make a perfect scapegoat. After publishing a story condemning Prince Fayeen and his henchmen for orchestrating the terrorist attack, Egan then planned to get himself kidnapped on route to the airport by one of Fayeen's henchmen under the alias of George Holden in an attempt to identify the conspirators responsible for the assassination. However, his attacker, Bashir Al Kanezar, and his henchmen took off Martin's tracker, making it impossible for the DCO to find him.
Waking up in an abandoned warehouse, Bashir demanded "Egan" to give him the names of everyone who read the story, warning him that he had his other henchmen, led by Ahmed Hassan, kidnap Sonya and Aiden. However, Martin later overpowered and killed all of his attackers except for Bashir, who was later brought into custody. Infuriated by Bashir's actions, Martin suddenly attacked Bashir, demanding the current location of where his family was being held. Crystal later asked Bashir who he worked for, advising him that his wife and daughter would die unless he told the truth. As a result, Bashir revealed that Arcadia told him that Martin was an FBI agent.
Some time later, Maggie later told Gates, McGuire, Rice, and Odum that Arcadia was owned by Jason Shaw, the CEO of Verax. Having realized this, an infuriated Martin started yelling at his superior, demanding to know if he was in Iraq in 2004 as the war occurred. Gates, who called Martin to his office, finally confirmed that Martin was in fact a former Verax operative who served during the Iraq War. Handing him a classified file pertaining to Operation Raining Fire, Gates also revealed "Martin Odum" was a legend. At that moment, Martin received a text message from Aiden, who stole his phone as he was kidnapped by Prince Fayeen's henchmen. After Maggie traced the text, Martin, Crystal, and Rice killed the remaining henchmen, including Hassan, saving Sonya and Aiden. It was later decided by Odum to move Sonya and Aiden to a safe house until the manhunt ended.
Some time later, Martin, Maggie, Rice, McGuire, and Gates were informed by Malloy and Spiller that any further charges against Prince Fayeen will drop. According to the Director, Bashir will be prosecuted for the assassination and Hani Jabril will be released and charges against her will also drop. After the briefing, Martin met with Spiller, believing him to be the one who informed Prince Fayeen's henchmen that Martin was FBI. Spiller revealed that he was not working for Verax. In fact, he has apparently been tracking their covert activites. Giving him a file which mentioned that the NSA, various private intelligence agencies, and parts of Congress were acquired by Verax, Spiller then tasked Martin with finding a Verax operative named John Cameron, who was in Iraq in 2004.
Sonya's Confession[]
Later that night, Martin reunited with Sonya and Aiden. After Aiden went to sleep, Martin suddenly confronted Sonya, demanding her to tell him what his name was and why she lied to him for ten years. Saddened and afraid, Sonya finally told Martin that she doesn't know his name and feared that he would stop loving her if she ever told him the truth. However, Martin noticed that the guard was missing and the two were suddenly attacked by Verax assassins. During the gunfight, Martin and Sonya, who was severly injured by an assailant who she later killed, overpowered and killed all of the assassins. Moments later, the ER and agents at the FBI arrived at the safe house. Inside the ambulence, an injured Sonya finally revealed that in 2004, she was a CIA operative stationed in Germany. She was ordered by the Agency to extract Martin, who was apparently an MI6 agent who was injured during the war, out of the country. As part of the process, she helped him escape from a military hospital after killing a hitman who was assigned to kill him. After completing her mission, she quit the Agency to start a family with Martin. Suddenly, Sonya stopped talking and her heart stopped beating.
Watching Sonya's surgery, Crystal approaches Martin and tells him that Operation Raining Fire was one of the worst friendly fire operations during the Iraq War. According to her father, who formerly worked for the Pentagon, the U.S. bombed their own positions. Having obtained the information he needed from Crystal, he revealed that "Martin Odum" was a legend and that his true identity was classified by the government.
Searching for John Cameron[]
Having received an order from Spiller and Gates to apprehend Cameron, Rice and Odum checked the morgue and took pictures of the dead assassins that he killed the previous night. Texting Maggie the pictures, Tony and Martin discover numbers written on one of the arms of a dead assassin. However, the thermal photos reveal that Martin also has a similar amount of codes on his arm. With the help of Spiller, Maggie and Gates figure out that the set of numbers were identification codes for Verax. Checking the apartment of one of the dead men, Rice, Crystal, and Odum found a burner phone, cash, and a sniper's rifle. Martin then receives an encrypted call from someone claiming to be John Cameron. "Cameron" warns Martin that he will suffer consequences, as "the blood will be on his hands". While Maggie traced the call, Tony, who reached out to a friend at the Treasury, found out that the bills were a part of a cash shipment to Iraq. Apparently, the truck carrying the money was hijacked by Verax, who later executed innocent American soldiers that drove the truck. The prime killer was assumed to be Cameron. Crystal, Tony, and Martin arrive at an abandoned motel where the phone call came from. However, the whole thing was revealed to be a set up as Verax kidnapped Martin Odum and left Crystal and Rice for dead after leading their car off a hill.
Learning the Truth[]
Martin, unconscious, was taken by Verax associates to a Verax bunker where he met the CEO, Jason Shaw. Injected with a truth drug, Martin vividly remembers Iraq. Shaw and Verax stole American money and killed innocent soldiers in the process. As Martin was caught taking pictures of the stolen money in Iraq, Verax beat the truth out of him until he revealed that he was working for MI6. After his confession, Verax imprisoned Martin in a cell although he was later rescued by Dennis Evans, a former Verax operative who also served in the Iraq War along with Robert McCombs and Kyle Dobson. Shaw later told Martin that he and his soldiers found Saddam's weapons including the WMDs and intended to keep it a secret and sell it on the black market. Knowing how dangerous these weapons could be, Martin later ordered the strike which killed dozens of Verax contractors and injured him and Shaw. Shaw also confirmed that he sent the hitman to kill him at the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. After being restrained from Verax, Martin soon discovers from Shaw that he was in fact an MI6 agent named "John Cameron". As Martin discovered that John Cameron was one of his legends in Iraq, he also discovered that Verax has been setting up the FBI to believe that they are hunting Cameron who is actually Martin while the group secretly assassinates Del Bennet, the Director of the FBI. Some time later, Verax uses a faked coerced video of Martin/John in which he confessed to assassinating the FBI Direcor. Crystal and Rice, who tracked Martin's location to the Verax facility, then help him clear his name.
Disappearing[]
Days later, Crystal is briefed by a Senate Intelligence Community and shares her opinion that Martin is not guilty for the crime as he was set up by Verax. Meanwhile, Martin meets Gates who gives him a new identity and passport. According to Gates MI6 contact, the agency had no knowledge of an agent named John Cameron. Apparently, MI6 unofficially announced that Cameron was one of Martin's legends and that he was disavowed. Some time later, Spiller, who is the new FBI director, was revealed to be the mole within DCO, having presumably given Verax, Arcadia, and Prince Fayeen's men information pertaining to the assassination of Prince Abboud and Martin's investigation on Verax and Operation Raining Fire. Martin later flees from the United States and starts a new life in London, the United Kingdom.
Living in London[]
Days after leaving the U.S., Odum started a new life in London, working for a factory. He rented a small apartment while trying to investigate his own past. One night, he flirted with a stripper and was later lured to her apartment. However, a few British police officers confronted him, demanding his ID. Although he overpowered the officers, surveillance cameras caught him beating them up, leading the British police to hunt him down.
Assisted by Tony Rice[]
Tony Rice, who believed that Martin was not guilty of the assassination of the former FBI director, flew to London with his wife and kids, pretending to be on vacation while he was assisting Martin. He met Odum in a park, although he was being followed by FBI agents who were trying to locate Odum. Rice later found a file which suggested that "John Cameron" was killed in action. He also gave him the address of one of Cameron's former MI6 superiors, Terrence Graves. Posing as a former friend, Odum confronted a dying Graves, suffering from amnesia as he called Martin his son. Learning this, Martin later called Rice again, informing him that Graves was useless.
Following Illyana Zakayev[]
With the help of his FBI friends, Rice also discovered that Graves was met by a woman named Illyana Zakayev twice a week. Sneaking into Illyana's apartment, Martin discovered pictures of her, him, and her daughter, Katya. This picture suddenly triggered a memory of him pushing a swing for a young girl. After dropping her kids off at school, Illyana returned to her house, forcing Martin to hide. Having left the house, Martin followed Illyana to a Russian grocery store, closely watching her from a close distance. At the store, he aided an elderly woman who needed help in reaching at the top of the refrigerators to get a bottle of wine. However, Martin suddenly realized that he spoke in Russian, blowing his cover. As soon as he assured the lady that he did not know Russian, Illyana suddenly recognized him as 'Dmitri'. However, cops quickly came into the grocery store and attempted to apprehend Martin. He managed to disguise himself and escape from the cops. Later that night, Martin watched Illyana's apartment as Katya was getting ready for bed. Illyana later came in and looked from the window, making sure that no one was surveying her family before closing Katya's shades and turning off the light.